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Aung San Suu Kyi, Aminatou Haider, Harriett Tubman, German anti-Nazi resistance fighters abortion providers. The winter edition of On The Issues Magazine, “Passion, Freedom & Women,” focuses on women who have fought for freedom, even at their own peril.
The winter edition of On The Issues Magazine, “Passion, Freedom & Women,” focuses on women who have fought for freedom, even at their own peril.
Editor-in-Chief Merle Hoffman in “The Courage of No” dissects what it means to resist and ponders how that resistance is fueled. Is it by love? Compassion?
“How is it, then, that there are those who can resist; those who doubt, question and discover the truths behind manipulated collective reality? Who turn their insights and denial into action, and have the courage to go up against the status quo, sometimes at the cost of their own lives?”
“Justice for Aung San Suu Kyi: End Male Power Structures,” by Janet Benshoof, analyzes what justice and peace mean for women. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize Winning Burmese activist, has been imprisoned or under house arrest in Burma for many years. Benshoof points out that all 12 Nobel Peace Prize winning women, with one exception, are “outsiders,” unlike their male counterparts, who are often heads of state.
“The Nobel Peace Prize stands for advancing changes in the root causes of conflict, and central to this is addressing the continuing gender disparity in power. Only by restructuring embedded male power structures can we maximize our chances for enduring peace.”
Miriam Schapiro, an artist known for helping to erase the line between high art and craft, is featured in a multimedia slideshow. Art Editor Linda Stein and Eleanor Flomenhaft describe how Schapiro fought for the democratization of art, and the freedom of women to participate.
“Schapiro fought courageously to pay homage to women by incorporating fragments from their every day lives– fans, floral decorations, dolls, hearts– at a time when this was considered taboo in the art world.”
This edition is dedicated to the memory of two indefatigable women whose lives touched many. Dr. Mahin Hassibi, a Clinical Psychiatrist and Professor, was a longtime contributing editor at On The Issues Magazine. Hassibi was working on a piece about martyrdom before she died of cancer on January 20. Read some of her notes on that subject, and past highlights, here.
Susan Hill, founder, President and CEO of the National Women’s Health Organization, died of breast cancer on January 30, little more than a week after she was interviewed for an article about her challenges and courageous work as an abortion provider.